Type 2: V + NG + to-infinitive clause with subject – He wants us to go
The ‘want’ verbs include: want, like, love, prefer, can’t bear, dislike, hate, wish, arrange.
The people want the troops to leave.
He did not like her to leave his side for more than a day. [EFX]
I only want us to be together, always. [GWH]
I have arranged for the students to go to London tomorrow.
The ‘want’ type verbs take a to-infinitive clause that has an explicit subject. Semantically, what the people want, what ‘he’did not like are situations, not persons or things. For this reason, the non-finite clause, together with its subject, is analyzed as a single unit which can be considered an untypical direct object. This can be tested by (a) replacement by a pronoun (He did not like that), (b) coordination (and she herself did not like it either), and (c) clefting: the non-finite clause and its subject can become the focus of a wh-cleft (What he did not like was for her to leave his side for more than a day).
Furthermore, although these subjects of to-infinitive clauses are in the objective case (us, her) they can’t be analyzed as objects of the main verb. The complete clause does not entail The people want the troops or He did not like her. Nor can they become subject in a passive clause: *The troops were wanted to go, *She was not liked to leave his side for more than a day. In this respect, verbs like want contrast with those of Type 3 such as ask, advise and expect, in which the NG does represent a separate clause element.
Note the use of for as a subordinator, introducing the non-finite clause with its subject (for the students to go to London tomorrow) after the main verb arrange. In AmE this use of for is extended to other verbs such as want and prefer.
Finally, we can test want-type verbs with a What question: What do you want? rather than a Who question: Who do you want? The object of my wanting is (for) us to be together, always.
